Imposter
by ThoughtsUnleashed
Summary: A new case and a new monster. Sam and Dean take a break from hunting the yellow eyed demon to take a case from an unknown client.


**Author's Note/Disclaimer:** This story takes place after the death of John and during the ongoing hunt for the yellow eyed demon. I do not own the characters nor Supernatural itself. As well thanks to the awesome Sarah for her editing expertise!

The sleek black freshly washed 67' Impala cruised down the road, leaving a tornado of leaves in its wake. Dean was frantically shuffling through the half a dozen phones in the glove box, trying to find the one that was desperately ringing. Meanwhile Sam watched in amusement as he drove, he'd rather watch Dean scramble for the phone than find it himself. Sam missed the days when he only had one cell phone and answering it didn't guarantee they'd be hunting something in no time flat. Those days were far-gone, gone with the days of law school and friends and Jessica. Sam watched Dean out of the corner of his eye; Dean had finally found the right phone and was answering the call. It was their father's old phone, well one of them. John Winchester liked to keep a minimum of two phones at all times, the man was always convinced one would crap out on him. John Winchester had been dead about a year now, having traded his soul to a yellow-eyed demon so Dean could live. They'd been hunting the yellow eyed demon in the background all their lives while they hunted and killed every other monster they came up against. Yellow eyes had killed their mother when they were kids, and now their father, not to mention Sam's girlfriend Jessica. Saying he killed them was putting it mildly, he burned them alive on the ceiling moments before their loved ones walked into the room. Dreams of Jessica still haunted Sam, and Dean never quite got over losing his mother, although neither hunter would willingly admit it. Sam looked over when Dean closed the phone with a click.

"Who was that?" Sam asked having a feeling he'd be maneuvering the Impala into a U-turn in a second.

"A guy dad helped before. He's got some pretty weird stuff going on and he thinks it's our kind of weird. He's a cop in Georgia and so far there have been five deaths in Alpharetta." Dean replied.

Sam U-turned just as he knew he would be, "What's so weird about these deaths?"

"They're all Jane or John Doe's. They don't have finger prints or dental records or DNA." Dean stated.

"What do you mean they don't have DNA? How can they not have DNA?" Sam looked over confused. He'd heard of serial killers sanding off finger prints or melting them off to hide their victim's identity or getting rid of people's teeth for the same reason but how could you get rid of DNA? Some sort of radiation maybe? Enough radiation could alter DNA but not discard it completely.

"Damned if I know Sammy, now do you think it's our kind of case?" Dean asked with a knowing smile on his face.

"Uh yeah" Sam said, stepping on the accelerator.

Dean was asleep when Sam maneuvered the Impala into the truck stop just before the 'Welcome to Alpharetta' sign.

"Wake up" Sam said, giving Dean a shake. He thought about waking him up with a prank but wasn't sure he wanted to start that whole thing again. When Dean didn't stir Sam knew this was the golden opportunity to prank Dean. He got out of the car and shut the car door as quietly as he could. He fueled up the Impala and went into the diner to pay for the gas and that's when he found his prank. On the counter in the diner sat a juicy blueberry pie. Sam paid for the gas and the pie and left the diner, a huge devious smile on his handsome face. On his way around to his side of the car Sam looked in Dean's window and saw that Dean was still out like a light, perfect. Sam's stealth was good for more than just hunting demons; in this case, he'd get Dean good. He turned the volume dial on the radio so it would blare when he turned on the car. With one hand he held the pie right in front of Dean's face and with the other he turned the key in the ignition. Ironically, Custard Pie by Led Zeppelin blasted on the radio, jolting Dean awake causing him to jump forward, getting a face full of pie. As Sam was laughing hysterically, he wished the diner had had a custard pie instead of a blueberry one.

"There better not be any blueberry on my baby," Dean growled, licking the blueberry off his face and pulling a fork out of the glove box to finish the pie still in the plate. Dean never let pie go to waste and lucky for Sam not a drop got on the Impala's upholstery. Dean licked the plate clean, "that was a great blueberry pie, and maybe I'll go in and get another one."

"Dean don't we have case to work? Or do you just want to sit here and eat pie all day?" Sam laughed, eager to see what was up in this city.

"Alright lets go Nancy Drew but when this case is done I'm getting more pie" Dean stated determinedly.

Laughing Sam whipped the Impala out of its parking spot and back onto the road heading into town. They checked into the first motel they came across. Like most places they stayed at it looked like it hadn't been redecorated since the 60's, but at least this one smelled like it had been cleaned since then. The boys weren't picky, nor could they be since high class hotels tended to be a little more scrupulous when accepting credit cards. Didn't matter to them, they would be out working on the case most of the time and leaving town as soon as they were done. They unpacked the Impala, moving their few bags and Sam's laptop into the room. Dean jumped on the bed and stuck a quarter in the slot to start the magic fingers while Sam opened his laptop to search for information on the case.

After a few minutes, Dean sat up when the bed stopped moving, "find anything?"

"Yeah I hacked into the coroner's office records and found the reports on the bodies. All of them show no signs of what killed them, no bullet wounds, knife marks, toxins, anything. It says natural causes but each notes that all forms of ID have been removed." Sam said glancing at the record for the latest Jane Doe.

"No organs missing? Teeth marks? Anything?" Dean asked even though Sam's information matched what the local cop said.

"Nope, not in the coroner's report anyways. What's our next move? Check out the bodies? Maybe they missed something," checking out the bodies was their usual next step for something like this.

"Guess we have to. What's our story? Feds?" Dean asked knowing they would need some sort of lie to get in to see the bodies, unsure if their contact was enough to get them in.

"Reporters? Last time we used our badges we almost caught. If that doesn't work then we use Dad's contact. Who was it anyways?" Sam realized he didn't even know whom this case was coming from. He powered down his computer, shoved it into the middle of the table, and grabbed his coat as Dean did the same.

"Roger Stevenson. I've never heard Dad mention him before but he had Dad's number and said Dad helped him before. Recognize the name?" Dean walked out of the room, Sam following behind, locking the door.

"I've never heard of him, did you check Dad's journal?" Sam said as he got into the passenger seat and closed the door as Dean slid into the driver's seat and readjusted the mirrors for his slightly shorter stature.

"Ya, no mention of him." Dean confirmed.

"Better check it out." Sam conceded, feeling caution was necessary.

Dean swung the car out of the lot and drove across town to the coroner's office. Dean parked the car and the boys got out slamming the doors behind them. Sam took his laptop bag with him, making him look more like a student or in this case, a writer, he also had a notebook to make it look like he was taking notes of some sort. He liked to play the part. Dean on the other handused a simpler approach taking nothing with in the front door and were met by a receptionist. She was a fiery red head with dark brown eyes and a perfectly tailored forest green skirt suite. The only thought going through Dean's mind was 'hot', that was until she opened her mouth.

"Hi!" she said in a high-pitched cheerful voice, "isn't it a beautiful day out!"

Sam and Dean glanced at each other before turning around and looking through the windowed door at the rain falling heavily outside. They had been lucky the rain started after they were inside but wouldn't exactly have called it a nice day.

"Um sure" Sam said a little awkwardly, "we're writers," Sam paused to think up a magazine name, "for Coroner's Digest and we're writing an article on those bodies missing their DNA. Could we talk to the coroner?"

"Reporters! That's fantastic! I love reporters; I was going to be one once. That was before I became Dr. Moldie's receptionist, which I love!" She said brightly, a giant almost creepy smile never leaving her face. "I think Dr. Moldie would LOVE to talk to you but let me check!" She chirped and skipped into the next room.

"Is she possessed?" Dean asked under his breath.

"I don't think so" Sam whispered back as she skipped back into the room, "just really happy."

"He said he can see you now, the man he's working on isn't going anywhere" She nearly sang, giggling at the pun. She smiled, looking at first Sam and then Dean before making a dramatic gesture toward the door as if it was a TV game show prize.

"Vanna White out there is creeping me out" Dean whispered as he walked into the next room with Sam, "seriously there has to be something wrong with her."

Sam responded with a slight shake of his head, sure the woman was a little odd but everyone seemed possessed or strange to them. When they walked into the next room they were met by a man in his 60's wearing an ugly log cabin sweater under his lab coat with a beard that clearly hadn't been trimmed in a while, but he did have kind smile.

"Stacy tells me your reporters. What magazine were you from again?" He asked in a happy tone. He wasn't exactly what the boys expected, although coroners never really were quite normal people, after all they dealt with bodies all day.

"Coroner's Digest" Dean said confidently, he found confidence was the key to any lie, "we're doing an article on the bodies without identities. Could we see the bodies?"

"Coroner's Digest, huh never heard of them. I think I'd like a subscription, could you arrange that? Oh and I'd really like a copy of the issue I'll be appearing in!" The coroner said getting more and more excited.

"You'll be appearing in?" Sam said in confusion.

"Yes, well you'll need my picture for the article won't you?" he asked as if it were obvious.

"Oh of course" Sam improvised, thinking the man a little odd but assuming his behaviour was because of the possibility of fame. "Could we see the bodies first?"

"Of course you can. It's really amazing!" Moldie exclaimed, opening one of the stainless steel metal doors and pulling out the drawer behind it. The body on the slab looked normal enough for a dead guy, although Dean couldn't help but think he resembled a male mannequin from a department store. Moldie picked up the right hand and uncurled the fingers to reveal the smooth fingertips that would have looked like normal skin had they not known a normal person would have a swirl or arch or looped fingerprint there. "See the skin on the finger tips? Feel it, it feels really cool! There's no texture at all. I looked at it under a microscope and there is no way the prints could have been burned or sanded off. I would have been able to see a pattern or disturbance of some sort but these fingers look as if they've never even had finger prints."

"Is it possible they were just born without finger prints?" Dean asked hopefully, knowing it was unlikely they'd be so lucky.

"Impossible! I've never heard of a case like that before, although I've never seen this before either," Moldie said, confirming Dean's suspicions. "We tried identifying the body by dental records but their teeth are nondescript and they seem to have no DNA. It's absolutely impossible!"

"How can he not have any DNA?" Sam asked, the whole thing boggling his mind from the beginning.

"It's not so much that he doesn't have DNA, it's more that the double helix is just blank," Moldie said with a euphoric look on his face, excited by the medical mystery on his hands.

"Can you think of any possible reason any of this could happen? Anything that could explain any of this?" Dean wondered, anxious to get out of there and get started on the case.

"Nope" Moldie chirped, "there is no known disease or condition that could have caused this. It has to be a medical mystery."

"Um okay" Sam said, "I think that's all we need for the article. Thanks for your time Dr. Moldie." Sam and Dean turned to walk out the door as Moldie pushed the body back into the cabinet and closed the door.

"WAIT!" Sam and Dean turned around, thinking they'd been found out, "Don't you need my picture?"

"Oh… right, ya" Dean said, holding up his phone, attempting to make the camera function work. Sam grabbed the phone from him, pressed a few buttons and got the picture in a few seconds flat. Sam was generally a little quicker than Dean when it came to technology. "Can I see it?" Moldie asked.

"Sure" Sam said, holding up the phone, the screen displaying a slightly blurry photo of the doctor.

"We'll let you get back to work," Dean said heading for the door.

"Oh ok, well if you boys need anything else for your article come back anytime!" Dr. Moldie invited. The boys thanked him again and left, exhaling in relief as the door closed behind them. It took them a few minutes to realize that it had stopped raining and the sun was out, bright as ever.

"The sunshine twins were a little weird right?" Dean asked as he got into the driver's seat.

"You mean our kind of weird? They were odd but maybe they are just excited by the case?" Sam said, not sure, what to think and not really caring, thinking about this mind boggling case instead. "Where do we go from here? Coroner didn't really tell us much."

"We do what we always do Sammy, we talk to the family, and you do your research thing." Dean said with a smile. He'd always enjoyed their way of life, hitting the cases, killing the monsters. Dean fired up the Impala and headed over to the police station. They needed the police report to find out where the families lived at least and they should go talk to Roger and let him know they were on the case.

They showed up at the Alpharetta police station and asked for Officer Roger Stevenson at the front desk. The Deputy manning the counter pointed them to a desk in the back right corner of the office, the only desk occupied at the moment. The boys weaved between the other desks and approached the one in the corner, the man looking up when they got closer.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Dean Winchester" Dean said holding out his hand, "this is my brother Sam, we're John Winchester's sons. You called me yesterday about a case." The two shook hands before Roger indicated for them to sit down in two chairs he pulled from other desks and placed in front of his own.

"Oh sorry, it's been very busy around here lately; I actually forgot I called you boys." Roger did look a little haggard and worn out.

"What's been happening?" Sam asked, wondering what could have wiped the DNA-less bodies from a person's mind.

"We're having a festival this weekend, and with festivals come more people, more drunks and more crime. If you figure this thing out I'll treat you to one of the prize winning pies from the Alpharetta Pie Festival, we usually get some pretty fantastic entries." That statement caught Dean's interest.

"Pie festival?" Dean's mouth was almost watering just thinking about all the kinds of pie he'd like to eat, almost knocking the case clear out of his mind. Sam shot a 'not now' look his way, but even that couldn't dampen Dean's interest.

"Yup we have a pie fest every year! It's usually a pretty good time." Roger said, shuffling some papers around and coming up with a yellow file of papers that had been buried. "Here are copies of the police reports on the bodies. We haven't managed to find any connection between the victims based on the crime scenes. Really that's all we have to go on since we can't figure out who the victims are."

Sam thought a moment, for the first time realizing how truly hard this case would be since they had so little to go on. "What about missing persons? Has anyone gone missing around the same time as the bodies were found?"

"I looked into that but my commanding officer told me to stop since we couldn't scientifically prove there was any sort of connection between the bodies and reports because of the missing DNA. That and all the bodies look a little bit alike."

"They do? The coroner never mentioned that?" Sam said incredulously.

"They don't look identical but there are similarities between them. They all look...average. Look at the crime scene photos in the file and you'll see what I mean."

Dean opened the file, handed two of the reports to Sam, and fanned out the three others for himself. Sam held pictures of the two women and Deans were all men. The women had different hair colours and the lengths of each woman's hair were different too, their eyes were all missing the colours around the edges. Their body heights and shapes were different but somehow they still looked similar, similar in that they looked very average. The same applied to the men; they had similar builds and faces. Were you to see any of these people on the street you wouldn't remember them unless you got close enough to them to notice the lack of eye colour.

"I see what you mean. The coroner didn't point out the eyes; did he tell you what could have caused it?" Sam asked baffled at what could remove such a thing.

"He had no idea," Roger said, seeming to lose a little interest in the conversation as he shuffled through some more papers without producing a folder this time.

"Alright well we'll take this and get started then" Dean said, holding up the folder as he said this.

"Let me know what you find out and call me if you get into trouble."

"Oh one more thing, how do you know our dad?" Sam asked.

"He helped me with a leprechaun problem about three years back. Those little buggers are vicious!" Roger replied. Sam had a feeling he was telling the truth, they'd never heard about the case but then again their father kept many secrets from them including his whereabouts for the better part of the past year. Dean on the other hand was immediately suspicious, he'd never heard of a hunter dealing with leprechauns before, he'd already classified them in the same category as big foot.

"Alright" Sam said and with the wave of his hand and they walked away to start their own investigation. They both climbed back into the Impala, Dean behind the wheel as usual. They took off back to the motel room. Both boys knew what they had to do next, hack into the missing person's database and see if they could figure out whom the mystery bodies were and if they had anything in common. In a place like this, it could either be very hard or relatively easy to do. On one hand, people may not be reported missing until much later than in a smaller community. On the other hand, the fewer missing person's reports could help them match up the bodies easier, assuming of course that the bodies were people who had been missed.

They got back to the motel, Dean protesting loudly because he wanted pie to enjoy during this lengthy search. In the end, Sam won the argument, assuring Dean he could go get pie after he dropped Sam off at the motel. Dean wasn't big on research anyways, he could do it and had all the years Sam was away at school, but Sam was much quicker at it. Driving around town was Dean's version of research now a days; sometimes he could find the monster in action if he did that. Sam hated when he did it, he'd rather be there to back Dean up or wait until they knew what they were dealing with. This time Dean was looking for the pie festival, certain he'd find more than one kind of pie he liked since he pretty much liked them all. He followed the signs posted on the hydro posts until he got to a lot full of wooden stalls and colourful tents. He drove around the block looking for a nice big spot to park his baby away from the hustle and bustle to protect her from the bad drivers out there who might scratch or back into her. He found three spots in a row and parked perfectly in the middle spot, hoping no one would park in the other two spots preferring a cushion of space around his pride and joy. He took the key from the ignition, got out and locked the door. He noticed a bank down the street and figured he should probably go get cash since this festival was unlikely to take credit cards. He went to the atm and quickly flipped through his collection of credit cards and found one that matched the bank he was at now. Vincent Albrech was the name on this particular card. Dean popped it in the machine, pressed a few buttons and got his cash, careful to avoid showing his face on the camera. Armed with cash Dean headed over to the festival, eager to find some sweet sweet treats.

Meanwhile Sam was hacking into the missing person's database, searching for anyone who was reported missing close to the dates the bodies were respectively found. So far, he guessed the connection between one missing person and a Jane Doe. The girl, Vanessa Bell, had gone missing the day before one of the bodies had been found. She had brown hair as did the body, her build was similar but the face was different. Vanessa's face had high cheek bones, beautiful brown eyes and a slightly pointed chin. The body had none of these things, the cheek bones were average as was the nose and chin. When he guessed a couple more Sam decided he'd go back to the coroner and try to match the bodies and reports more solidly if he could. As he had this thought his dad's cell started to ring. Sam picked up the phone to find it was Roger asking them to come down to the coroner's office a.s.a.p.; he had something to show them. Sam figured they found a 6th body and called up Dean.

Dean had managed to talk to a few people at the festival and tasted about five different kinds of pie, all of which were amazing to him, before Sam called. He was about to taste a sixth when Sam called; he looked mournfully at the pie but walked back toward the car knowing the case came first. A few minutes later, he pulled up in front of the motel where Sam was waiting outside the room door. Sam opened the car door and hopped in.

"Did he say what he wants to show us?" Dean asked, thinking it had better be worth him leaving his pie.

"Nope, could be a trap but I don't think so he sounded kind of shocked on the phone" Sam replied recalling exactly what Roger had said and repeating it to Dean on the drive over.

In no time they were back at the coroner's office; felt like they never left, it had only been a matter of hours after all. The office seemed a little different to Sam, figuring it was just the sunlight replacing the over cast clouds from before. Dean didn't even notice a difference, still having pie on the brain, as well as being very tempted to hit on the receptionist, almost doing so before he remembered how awkward she made him feel. Without a word, she happily motioned them into the next room where Dr. Moldie was waiting with Roger who looked grim, perhaps just in comparison to Moldie's big smile.

"I've never seen anything like this before" Moldie declared.

"He's been repeating that since I got here, I think he's in shock. Took me a bit to figure out why Moldie called me and then I called you guys, figured you needed to see this" Roger explained pulling back the white sheet covering the body on the gurney. Sam figured it was another victim but was surprised to see the man Moldie had showed them before. The stunning difference was the snow-white hair the body now had, completely devoid of pigment.

"Are the other bodies like this?" Dean asked probably the least surprised of the four men in the room. In this line of work things stopped being so incredible. Roger nodded the affirmative.

"Hmm" Sam said aloud without realizing he did so. It was now obvious to him that this was some type of monster or demon; it was too consistent for one thing. Before he had thought maybe it was some type of pagan god but he'd never heard of a pagan god that bothered with the sacrifice after the life was taken. Whatever was doing this seemed to use venom of some type or something like it that stayed with the body after and changed its appearance. Sam was beyond baffled. He snapped a quick picture of the body and left, clearly they had work to do and fast. For all they knew the body could decompose before their eyes and any hidden clues with it.

"All right Sam, what can get rid of all forms of ID, and hair colour and eye colour and..." Dean stopped stumped, what would you call not being average? "individuality?"

"Wait maybe we're looking at it all wrong Dean, maybe all those things came from one thing. The DNA! DNA determines all those things, right? So if you lose that then it would make sense you would lose everything else too."

"What do you know that can take DNA? You mean like a shifter?" Dean suggested, sifting through the vast amounts of monster/demon/evil thing info he had in his brain.

"Sounds like a shifter, it'd have to be one stronger than we've ever killed before" Sam agreed, "I've never heard of one that can steal DNA, just the ones that use it to turn into you."

"I'll call Bobby, see what he knows, one of his moldy books must have something. I assume you're going to…surf the net?" Dean said with a smirk on his face, Sam always did the nerd work and was damn good at it too but Dean liked to give him a hard time about it.

"Mm maybe I'll let you do it this time, we'd solve the case sometime in the next year or two" Sam joked, knowing Dean could do the tech work but having watched him do it before Sam also knew it would take Dean twice as long.

"Ya I'll stick with callin Bobby, you do what you do best computer geek" Dean laughed swinging the Impala back into its spot in front of the motel room.

Back in the room, Sam settled down at the table with his laptop and a notebook and Dean took his cell, his dad's journal and the motel stationary to his bed on the other side of the room. First, an hour passed, then two before Sam pushed back from the table with a triumphant look on his face and Dean stood up from the bed at about the same time, finger marking a passage in the journal he thought important.

"What did you find?" Dean asked, knowing from Sam's face that he definitely knew what they were dealing with.

"I found a website of old translated Latin books and in one of them it mentions something called a," Sam paused reading off the screen, "praestigiator. It means imposter and refers to a creature. It wasn't very specific but it said this imposter steals the soul, sucks it out of the body. I found another translation that talked about a monster that steals a person's identity, it didn't name the monster because humans don't know the name but it says the monster sucks out the persons 'being', everything that makes them them. Once the person is dead, the body shrinks or grows until the body looks like the average human. I think this is what we're dealing with Dean."

"I found something like that in dad's journal" Dean said with a nod, "actually Bobby pointed me to it, he remembered Dad mentioning something like this before. Dad didn't write much but a hunter he worked with on another case told him about it. The hunter told him about a creature he came across that was sucking people dry of everything that made them them. That's one tall Slurpee if you ask me."

"Does it say how he killed it?" Sam asked surprised that they had found what sounded to be the same creature.

"Cut off its head with a silver knife. Should be easy, let's go gank this bitch," Dean said happily, usually loving this part of the case.

"Hold on, how do we find this thing?" Sam asked, his research not saying anything about how to track it or where it tended to live.

"Oh, right, I don't know. Any idea where they usually hunt?" Dean asked, hoping it wouldn't be the sewer.

"I didn't find anything about that, but I have an idea where it might be" Sam said, he'd noticed a pattern when he was rereading the police reports for the fourteenth time. "The bodies were all found in the same block, a park right here," he said pointing to the map they had tacked up on the wall.

"I know where that is!" Dean said enthusiastically, knowing the park was right next to the pie festival, almost drooling at the thought of going back. Sam laughed and gave Dean a funny look; Sam didn't know why Dean was so excited but he would find out in no time. The boys grabbed everything they would need from the room and hopped into the Impala, Dean at the wheel since he knew exactly where he was going. In a few minutes, they pulled up beside the park curb and Dean killed the engine. They looked around before climbing out of the car and circling around to the trunk. Dean popped the trunk and they each grabbed a silver machete, Dean then closing the trunk as quietly as possible. The park seemed darker than before but that didn't seem to bother them, dark seemed a major part of this job. While the park seemed deserted, about a block away there was hustle and bustle, the noise of happy pie lovers floating on the air. As the noises floated to their ears in stark contrast with the quiet of the park, Sam realized why Dean knew where the park was, it was clear now.

"You went to the pie festival didn't you? Some research" Sam scoffed.

"Hey I was interviewing the locals who just happened to be eating pie so I did too to blend in" Dean reasoned defending himself with a smirk.

"Sure" Sam said shaking his head Dean was so predictable.

They walked into the park spreading out but staying relatively close to each other so they could watch each other's back. The park itself was completely silent. They made a big loop around and the only living thing they saw was a bum on a bench apparently sleeping. They made another loop just to be sure, and then sat on a bench in the middle of the park for an hour. They were about to leave when they saw a couple cutting through the park on their way home. The boys exchanged a look and silently got up to follow the couple once they were a decent distance away so as not to scare off any monster that may try to follow them. The couple walked past the bum on the bench and he stirred for a second before pulling the newspaper farther over his head. Within a few minutes, the couple had left the park, walking on the well-lit sidewalk. Certain nothing was going to happen the boys decided to call it a night, walking back to the car and putting the machetes into a duffle in the back seat. By the time they got back to the hotel, it was late and both boys were tired, hitting the hay as soon as they got in the room.

Dean woke with a jolt to the sound of his phone. He jumped out of bed, and grabbed the phone answering it groggily.

"Hello?"

"Dean? It's Roger, we have another body down here, just like the other ones. It was found in the park about ten minutes ago, thought you guys would want to know"

"Shit, okay thanks Roger. Is there someone at the park that could show us where the body was found exactly?" Dean asked, hoping that could help them find the monster.

"Ya I can meet you there in 20?" Roger offered despite it being 4am.

"Ok" Dean said and hung up. He looked over at Sam's bed and noticed he was already dressed and ready to go, clearly he knew what the call was all about.

"Another body?" Sam asked already knowing the answer.

"Ya in the park, it must have happened after we left? We probably just missed the bastard in action," Dean said a little angrily while pulling on his pants and shirt. He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, Sam right on his heels.

Dean sped down the deserted road, not worried about the cops seeing as he was meeting pulled up next to the curb at the edge of the park in minutes; both boys would want to look around a bit before Roger showed up. They didn't worry about the machetes seeing as the park was probably too busy for the monster to strike again at the moment but just in case they both had the pocketknives they always carried which were of course made of silver. They got out of the car and retraced their steps from a few hours before, looking for anything that looked different. It was hard to tell but everything seemed the same, except the bum on the bench seemed to have left probably because of the commotion at the other end of the park. There was yellow police tape and spotlights in a square at the far edge of the park. The boys made a beeline over there, hoping they would find someone with answers, maybe Roger. There weren't many people in the well-lit area, just a few cops searching the area for evidence or clues as to who the killer was, and two people outside the tape. To Sam's surprise, he recognized the people outside the tape as the couple they had followed through the park earlier that night. He walked over to them and looked at the scene inside the yellow tape as if he was just a spectator.

"Do you know what happened?" Sam asked them, trying to sound as if he didn't already know. The woman just sniffled and tucked her head into the man's side.

"A friend of ours was murdered" the man blurted, "we were walking home through the park and she was right behind us but when we were a block from the park we looked to see how far back she was, but she was gone. We didn't even hear her scream. I can't believe she's really dead." The woman started crying even harder. Sam got all the information he needed, he felt bad for using people's grief to get information but it was usually the easiest tactic. Sam moved away to give them their space and to wait for Roger.

"What did you find out Sammy?" Dean asked quietly so as not to be heard.

"The girl was with the couple we followed home last night; she must have been quite a bit behind them because I don't remember seeing her. They said they didn't even hear her scream." Sam repeated.

"Damn it, we were so close" Dean said shaking his head, the praestigiator had probably been in the park the entire time they were there, how did they miss it? What had they overlooked? Just then, Roger showed up at the scene, the deputy in the tape with the body spotting him first and waving him over. They talked for a few minutes before Roger came to talk to the boys. He didn't have much information to give them, the couple having already told them more information. The Deputy waved Roger over again and the boys left the scene.

"What now? There has to be something we missed" Sam suggested, at a loss as to what they should do next.

"Let's give the park a once over first" Dean couldn't figure out what he missed, although he had a feeling that going over the park again as a crowd began to gather probably wouldn't turn up anything. They circled around the other end of the park hoping to find something that hadn't been trampled by the local cops or gathering crowd of curious people. They couldn't find a thing, but something was still bothering Dean, his hunter's instincts going crazy.

"Anything?" Sam asked, feeling the same way Dean did, sure that he would be able to figure it out if he talked it through out loud.

"Nope," Dean said with an exasperated sigh. There was something odd about this case and he just wanted to gank the thing and get outta dodge. "Let's go back to the motel and get some sleep."

Sam nodded his agreement, already going through everything in his head. Dean was in for a treat when they got back to the motel; Sam would need to talk this all through aloud, which was not Dean's style at all. Sam was quiet on the car ride back, much to Dean's relief. Dean wasn't the talk the case to death type; he'd been doing the job so long now he just trusted the answer would come to him.

The first thing Dean did when they got back to the motel was throw himself on the bed, clothes and all and bunch his pillow up under his head. It was the middle of the night after all and Dean liked his sleep. Sam wasn't tired at all, the puzzle in front of him keeping him awake and intrigued. He began pacing the room, at first running the facts in his head but then to Dean's dismay he started asking Dean questions. Dean hated the process, only wanting sleep.

"The park was empty besides the couple, right?" Sam said pacing, forehead wrinkled in thought.

"And the bum on the bench" Dean mumbled through the pillow he was still cuddling, attempting to ignore this sleep interruption, hoping Sam would take the hint and go to bed too.

"Oh yeah, that's right. What happened to him? He wasn't there when we went back to see the body. Do you think the praestigiator got him too?" Sam wondered.

"I dunno. Maybe he saw the attack and got scared and ran?" Dean suggested unconvincingly.

"I don't think so, why would the praestigiator let someone see him but not attack them too? Either he saw it and the praestigiator got him or he was gone before it happened" Sam reasoned, still feeling like he was missing that thing right in front of him, racking his brain for the answer.

"Maybe he is the praestigiator" Dean suggested in his sleepy state, unsure if it made sense because he was mostly sleeping or if it really was a reasonable answer. Sam stopped pacing and stared at him.

"Do you really think he could be?" Sam asked stunned, the answer seeming so obvious and ridiculous at the same time.

Dean a little more conscious now rolled over, "I think it has to be the bum, something seemed odd about him when I first saw him. Sam I don't think he was breathing" Dean realized, now knowing he was absolutely right.

"You mean he was dead?" Sam inquired, not quite getting what Dean meant.

"No Sam we saw him move, he was alive but his chest wasn't rising and falling. Sound like an imposter to you?" Dean explained, at a loss why this wasn't more obvious to Sam.

"Well let's go kill it then," Sam exclaimed grabbing the duffle they had thrown on the floor by the door.

"Aw Sammy can't we get a little sleep? I don't think he'll come back with so many people there anyways, he seems to like people that walk alone," Dean pleaded snuggling back into his pillow.

"I guess your right," Sam said dropping the duffle but Dean never heard his reply, already out like a light.

"Waky waky" Sam said slamming the motel door closed with his foot, coffee tray in one hand and a brown bag in the other. Dean groaned he'd never understand how Sam always seemed so awake early in the morning even when he'd had so little sleep. "I brought breakfast back."

"Calm down Martha Stewart, I'm not getting up yet." Dean said pulling the pillow over his head like a kid.

"Dean it's ten, it's not even early anymore," Sam chided taking a gulp of coffee. He opened the brown bag, pulled out his egg on English muffin sandwich, and set it aside. Next, he pulled out a Styrofoam container and opened it, the delicious smell of hash browns wafting out. This caught Dean's attention but wasn't alluring enough to get him out of bed. Then Sam pulled out the last two things in the bag, one was another breakfast sandwich and the last was another Styrofoam container. When he opened this container, the delicious smell of hot apple pie came wafting out. This was enough to get Dean to sit bolt upright and jump out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning realizing there were presents waiting.

"You rock man!" Dean exclaimed digging into the steaming slice, ignoring the hash browns completely. Sam laughed and shook his head, he knew his brother so well but he never understood how Dean could put so much crap in his body and still be relatively healthy. That in itself was probably a mystery they would never solve.

"Well do we go back to the park in the middle of the day and look for the praestigiator or do we wait until dark?" Sam asked after swallowing a mouthful of his sandwich. Sam preferred to get the whole thing over with but beheading a homeless man in public may draw a little attention.

"Why don't we go to the pie festival?" Dean suggested through a mouthful of delicious pie, seemingly ignoring Sam's question.

"Can you focus for a minute here Dean, we do still have a monster on the loose, killing people, you know no big deal," Sam said sarcastically.

"I know, calm down. The festival is right next to the park, we can drive by the park and see if it even came back, if it didn't we keep going to the festival and keep an eye on the park from there. Less likely to tip the praestigiator off," Dean said casually licking the last of the pie off his fork before devouring a forkful of hash browns. Sam shook his head, he should have known better, Dean was a pro at this job and wouldn't be so easily distracted when the end of a job was so near.

"Good plan," Sam agreed finishing his sandwich and digging into the hash browns before Dean ate them all.

After breakfast they grabbed the duffle bag from the night before and got into the Impala hoping to get this nasty business over with before much of a crowd began to gather for the festival. They drove by the end of the park where they had seen the man originally but the bench was vacant so they continued on to the festival. The festival grounds were already crawling with a fair number of people, much to the boys benefit in this case so they could hide amongst the crowd. They paced between the booths closest to the fence that shared a boarder with the park, trying not to draw too much attention. In the name of blending in Dean bought a variety of pie slices, each flavour a little more odd than the next. He'd had dragon fruit pie, which was good, pineapple cheese pie which he enjoyed as well, deep fried pie which wasn't bad but he liked the traditional pie better. Dean was just digging into a slice of hamburger pie when he caught movement in the park out of the corner of his eye. He shifted so he could look at the park while looking like he was just eating pie and watched as the bum walked casually to his bench. He took special notice whether or not the man was breathing, but the man was too far away for him to tell.

"Sam, 9 o'clock," Dean said still eating his pie and watching the man. Sam turned to his left and followed Dean's gaze. The man wasn't doing anything particularly abnormal. It was around noon now and it appeared an afternoon concert was about to begin. There would be no better time to do what they needed to do in broad daylight than now. They left the festival and once outside opened the duffle that Sam was carrying, each extracting a silver blade and concealing it in their jackets for easier access. They walked over to the park, trying to act like the other festival goers, never taking their eyes off the man on the bench. He was reading the paper, although when Sam and Dean got closer they saw he couldn't be as the paper was upside down. Dean walked around the left side of the bench while Sam walked around to the right side. The man didn't look up, almost refused to look up sticking to its disguise and staying in character. Sam and Dean looked at each other confused; they had never come across a monster that didn't fight back. Could they kill a monster that didn't fight back? Apparently, they couldn't because neither brother made a move, they just awkwardly stood there looking at each other and then looking at the monster.

"Um your paper is upside down sir." Sam said sounding lame, at a total loss what to do or say, feeling like they should back away slowly like in a cartoon.

"Oh, thank you," the little old man said in a quivering voice, "please don't hurt me."

"Don't hurt you?" Dean repeated confused, "you killed people!"

"It wasn't me. Last night I was in the park and a man wearing these clothes came up to me and told me I had to switch clothes with him and come sit here or he'd kill me." The man sounded sincere but how could they tell if he was telling the truth.

"What did the man look like?" Dean asked, his instincts telling him the man was telling the truth and the monster had gotten away.

"He was very average looking so I can't quite remember but he did have an odd tattoo on his hand, it was a bunch of lines intertwined like this" the man said drawing the tattoo in the air with his fingers.

"Can you draw it?" Sam asked, pulling a scrap of paper out of his pocket and pen from his jacket. The drawing in the air really was useless.

"Ya" the man replied taking the paper and drawing an ornate circle with lines going in every direction. Sam was amazed the man could remember such an intricate tattoo, focusing on the backs of the man's hands just in case the tattoo was there. Of course it wasn't, Dean's instincts had already determined this man wasn't the monster.

"I've seen this before!" Sam exclaimed excited, "we have to go, thanks." Sam then started running back towards the festival.

"What's going on?" Dean asked following him but confused as to why.

"I've seen that design before Dean! Once on the cover of the Latin book I read on the internet and once in the festival. The vendor that served you the hamburger pie had that exact marking on his hand! I can't believe I didn't recognize it before!" Sam explained, exhilarated by this turn of events.

"Hold on a second Sammy, how are we going to do this? It's broad daylight and we're in a crowded area," Dean said, stopping to think.

"I've got a plan. You go ask him for another piece of pie and when he goes into the back of his booth where no one can see him I'll cut off his head." Sam said as if it should have been a little obvious.

"Okay sounds good," Dean agreed, not minding that he got yet another piece of pie from the deal. When they got back to the booth Sam was relieved to see the man was still working. He'd been afraid the man would have run for it by now. Sam broke off into the crowd to get lost and circle around behind the booth. Dean was next in line.

"Another piece of that hamburger pie would be great," Dean said placing his order. The man pretended not to recognize him and walked to the back of the booth. Dean ran around to the back in case Sam needed help and got to the doorway in time to see Sam decapitate him with his silver blade. The headless body collapsed to the ground, the head hitting a table, rolling off onto the floor and heading towards the door rolling through globs of hamburger on the floor.

"And then my poor meatball rolled right out the door" Dean sang cheerily.

"Classy" Sam chastised.

"What it's funny!" Dean exclaimed.

That night the boys got a call from Roger, a headless body had been found at the festival that perfectly matched the current state of all the DNA less bodies and when they tested the DNA it matched the six missing persons. As it turns out the monster consumes the DNA of its victims causing the bodies to shift and change until they resemble the monster itself. Roger knew the headless body had to be the work of the Winchesters, thanking them for taking care of at least one of his problems.

The brothers checked out of the motel and loaded up the Impala unsure what direction to go.

"I can't believe you bought seven pies from the festival!" Sam laughed looking at the piled white pie boxes in the back seat.

"Well we don't know where we're going, never hurts to be prepared. Who knows how long it'll be before we meet up with a good pie. Besides Roger bought one of them, the man keeps a promise."

Just then, one of the many phones in the glove box started to ring.

**A/N:** Let me know what you think!


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